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Thursday, December 4, 2008

The Santa Dilemma

Sam, at 4, is at the perfect age for Christmas this year.

He's old enough to remember a bit about last year; he's excited about all the lights and the decorations.... We watch Christmas TV shows and movies and sing Christmas songs all the time! And he's so excited about Santa.

Every thing he sees on TV, he's asking Santa for. We've had to do some serious expectation setting this year (for both boys). He's narrowed down his list, but still... It's exciting to see him so enchanted by the whole Christmas Spirit.

But, then enter Josh. He's seven. He's in the second grade. Last year someone in his class told him there was no Santa. He said this boys mom said "Santa" was the parents. (This is the same mom that didn't call me when Josh broke his arm at her house earlier this year so she was already not high on my list.)

Luckily, Josh didn't believe him because we can watch Santa on the computer! Thank you Norad Santa Tracker!

But this year, he came home from school and said there are more kids in his class that don't believe.

And he's talking about this in front of Sam.

We've been able to laugh with him about how ridiculous those kids in his class are and say, "Well of course there's a Santa!" I think he still WANTS to believe, but the time is coming... very soon... when he won't believe any longer.

I don't want this knowledge to ruin the magic for Sam. Realistically, you only have a handful of years, maybe 3 or 4, for the whole "Santa" thing with the kids when they really and truly believe.

Rich and I have talked about what to do and say to Josh. Do we tell him? It would crush him. If he brings it up again, do we pull him aside and tell him to stop talking about it in front of Sam? Because it's just not fair to Sam to take the magic away this soon. We can't ignore it and hope it goes away, because it won't.

This is our last year with Josh believing. I don't want it to be Sam's last either.

5 comments:

  1. Our son is 13 and our daughter is 11. We think he "knows" because of conversations at school, but our daughter still believes.

    The Christmas my nephew was 17 years old, he was telling my husband about all his gifts from Santa, then leaned in to whipser in his ear "I think they're really from mom and dad". I think the spirit of Christmas can be kept alive for older children. :)

    We have adopted the German tradition in our house, so Santa fills the stockings and we parents are the ones who put the gifts under the tree.

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  2. Ahhhh...this breaks my heart! It's just not the same "fun" once you stop believing, you know.

    I dread this conversation with my boys!

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  3. Awwww, string it along as long as you can! The feelings and excitement of Christmas changes drastically once they don't believe!

    And by the way...I believe, I saw Santa....me and our brother....I was 5, and I'll never forget seeing Santa and his sleigh that Eve night in the sky!

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  4. It's so sad, and I guess times really are changing. But when I was 7, I was nowhere near not believing in Santa. I actually think I was going strong until I was 10 or something. Of course I suspected, but I didn't even want to believe it when my Mom finally told me. It's heartbreaking. You never really get the same Christmas magic back for yourself,ya know? Oh to be a kid...

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  5. http://tryroundingcorners.blogspot.com/2008/12/st-nicholas-day.html

    I have been meaning to send you think link to my friend's blog. It is about how her family was affected by her parents putting the kabosh on St. Nicholas. It touches my heart like this post does.

    I hope that both of your boys can enjoy Santa together for always, even when the myth is known.

    Meanwhile, I once babysat these 11 year old twins who, unbeknownst to me, stilled believed in Santa. It was St. Nicholas eve and I was telling them about getting candy in my shoes and asking if they did that and then I found out that they still believed in Santa! They were so hurt that St. Nicholaus had not ever come to their house! I totally told the parents my biff and the parents ended up calling in St. Nicholas, I am sure they were not happy with me. They were 11! I should have been warned!

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